The increasing prominence of interpersonal violence and terrorism in recent years has led many social scientists to study the effect of media violence on children. The theory is that viewers imitate the behaviors of aggressive models with whom they identify (Bandura, 1973). However, the casual relation needs to be elaborated, the role of various socio-cultural and cognitive factors in mediating the modeling effect needs to be investigated, and the extent to which these effects vary across cultures needs to be discovered. We have just collected data for a three year longitudinal study of 748 first and third graders in the Chicago area. We are extending this study to include samples of children from four other countries in which we have colleagues willing to co-operate. Data are being collected on the childrens' aggressiveness, TV viewing habits, social and cognitive skills; on the parents' aggressiveness and child rearing practices, and on the child's socio-cultural environment. These variables should, of course, vary across the nations studied. By obtaining 3 waves of longitudinal data on children as young as the proposed subjects, and applying various casual analysis techniques, we will be able to test for the existence of the modeling effect during a period when it should be strongest, and will be able to determine how various parental, social and cognitive factors interact with the modeling of violence in each of the different cultures.